FIFA World Cup spurs soccer goods' market in India

The forthcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa has brought cheers for the sporting goods manufacturers here as domestic market is bustling with bulk of orders from international buyers.

Although no soccer manufacturer could manage to fetch the official FIFA order, the promotional campaigns launched by several Multi-National Companies (MNCs) have kept almost every industrial unit busy with their respective orders.

"You can witness the hustle and bustle in the area of sports industry as all football manufacturers are busy in despatching the orders," a manufacturer said.

Rajesh Kharbanda, owner of famous brand NIVIA, said several MNCs in India and abroad would launch their extensive promotional campaign for World Cup soon and that his own company has received bulk orders from Castrol Oil and Big Bazaar.

"This time the volume of order is much higher, for which retail chains have played a key role," Kharbanda said adding that actual promotional campaign would start in June and last till September.

Kharbanda said more than half the orders have already been despatched to both national and international buyers.

"Domestic demand is around 50 per cent, while the world over it has increased to more than 70 per cent," Kharbanda said.

He said, for the first time, Machine-Made footballs would be exported from Jalandhar and some of the industrialists have already installed machines for stitching.

"During last world cup we faced problems as international buyers were interested to import only machine-made balls. To meet the demand of buyers after last world cup some of the exporters switched over to manufacture Machine-made footballs," he said.

"A training programme was launched by United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and initially eight manufacturers formed the group to receive training and ultimately installed machines in their factories," he added.

Munish Mahajan of Hans Raj Mahajan & Company said that the industry is glut with export orders and only the shortage of labour is what creating hindrance to meet the dead line.

"Even the rate of labour has also increased at least by 30 per cent due to FIFA World Cup," he said.

Do You Like This Story? Awesome! Now share the story Too bad. Tell us what you didn't like in the comments